Another ABC Soup
by The annoying kitty
Summary: Athrun eats soup in the middle of a scorching day. She bears it with him. AxC


Another ABC Soup

The cafeteria was crawling with groaning people. From this side of the room, a high school senior grumbled with disbelief at the sight of the board in front of him. Drops of sweat were racing down his face and the sides of his neck, and the line queuing wasn't getting any shorter. This was going to take forever. Clad on his white tee and red polo, the teenager gripped on his empty tray even tighter. He brushed his blue hair away from his face just to see that the situation wasn't getting any better.

"Zala…calm down," A tanned boy just about his age whispered before him. He groaned even louder. The student body was too, after all. Shouts were heard from the earlier part of the line. No doubt it's Yzak. He managed to heave a sigh. How normal could this day get?

"This is driving me nuts…I could not possibly go on with this kind of life," he said, still with his eyebrows cast down.

"Who can..? But right now, I am really hungry to even complain." Kira Yamato said, lifting his weight up to see the attraction. This is going to be a long day.

Minutes, okay, half an hour passed and it was our young blue-haired Athrun to get his much-awaited lunch for the day. It was as if the sun shone exactly at his turn and he never minded about anything at all. The students of Yanishuka High were all having a good time with their spaghettis and garlic breads that sounds of forks were heard all over the room. Nothing would go wrong anymore. He was having his own spaghetti, too.

"A SOUP..!" Athrun shouted. He managed to keep his jaw from detaching from his face out of the shock. His world suddenly chilled and painted itself with an ominous shade of black. He felt like his hair just dispatched. He sweatdropped. Gripping to his patience, he finally managed to argue, "Mrs. Uhmm," he tried looking through her identification card.

"Miss for you, young man," The lunch lady snapped back. Her hair all cooped up in a net, her figure all squeezed in her uniform and a ruddy toothpick hanging on her mouth weren't at all very miss-like.

"Miss, miss, sorry. Uh, Miss Tabachoi…" he paused as he prevented himself from smirking. No wonder her surname sounded funny. "I did not wait for almost a hundred freshman, sophomore and junior students just to get myself a soup! An ABC soup, even!"

The humongous lady grasped the collar of his polo, lifting him up, resisting gravitational pull. Her brows met and she gritted her teeth badly, "Number one, it's Labachoi and not Tabachoi. Number two, I am Chinese, and I know how to kick ass. Number three, whether or not you like my soup, you'll eat it, right?"

"Ye-yes ma'am. I-I will. In fact, who doesn't love soup anyway?" Athrun replied nervously. More sweats fell down his forehead. Labachoi let go of his collar and smiled evilly. One of those students, yes he was. Turning back, she returned to her work.

Athrun walked towards the table where Kira was sitting, waiting for him.

"Soup? Who wants soup at this kind of weather?" Kira exclaimed at the sight of his best friend looking down as if the world fell right at his back. Athrun sat down opposite the dark-haired teenager, still sighing. Resting the weight of his head with his palm, he managed to even reply.

"It was either this or you'll eat the Zala-freshly killed special."

"ABC soup." Kira answered without even thinking. He slammed the fork to his much-beloved spaghetti. Twisting it, he held it up at the sight of his satisfaction. Athrun was drooling at the sight of the little pasta hanging in the air, helpless. Grinning, Kira swallowed a mouthful vigorously, with the blue-haired friend to see.

"I taste better than spaghetti, you know." Athrun looked down at his bowl, with the aroma of the soup squeezing itself through his little nostrils.

"ABC soup." Kira said. He was having no plans, whatsoever, of even imagining to eat a blue-haired 16-year old Yanishuka student with ABC soup left in his tummy. His best friend had the right to live. Or in either way, he really didn't taste any better than spaghetti.

"Aw, what the heck." His stomach growled. Grabbing his spoon, he stared at his soup again. The smooth surface, the moisture crawling up the bowl, and the lettered breads popping out of the flavored liquid made him think twice about eating it.

"You know what, I'll go with Yzak over there. I can't stand eating with someone who can stand not eating." Kira mentioned out of the blue. He smiled and waved as he stood up and ran four tables away from him.

"It's because you're not having soup for lunch, best friend!" Athrun retorted. Now what will he do? The malevolent, fat lady will go inspecting their plates…and his bowl minutes before the bell finally rings. He couldn't stand it. The sun was burning his body and here he was about to eat soup for the middle of the scorching day. He looked left, right, front and back to find someone to eat with, but it seemed that he was the only student who was given the luck of eating a bowl of ABC soup.

"I'm having a bad day, too, apparently." A high school senior with ruffled blonde hair and hazel eyes spoke behind him. She managed to give out a small smile as she set herself into the table opposite him. Slamming her tray of a bowl of ABC soup, she imitated Athrun as she rested her head on her right palm. She cast both her eyes to him and flashed her white pearls once again.

Athrun blushed. For someone who was wearing oversized jeans and a plain white shirt, she sure was mighty cute. One thing's for sure, it wasn't the time to go stuttering and about. It was too hot for that. His two iris both restless, he clasped his buttons out swearing to himself that it was really searing in this room. What kind of ventilation is this school running anyway? The blonde girl threw one of her brows up, finding him quite unusual.

"Sorry, but it's really getting hot…mind if I get my polo off?" Athrun bit his lower lip. He really didn't mean anything stupid, but he was really telling the bare truth. Even the girl in front of him was fanning herself with her shirt.

"No kidding. Sure, I don't care. Mind if I take my shirt off?" The girl asked, both her eyelids falling down.

Athrun stopped from clasping the buttons."Y-You're shi-shirt off? I-I really don't think it is p-proper," More sweat came running down his head. Where has this girl been to anyway? Maybe she came from a native tribe of Indians who run around naked. He smacked himself. It was very rude to think about those things.

"Stupid! I have a smaller tee inside. So don't think like a pervert, okay? I may not be Chinese, but I also know how to kick ass," she pouted as she flew both her arms up and grabbing her white shirt.

"You heard me and the lunch lady?" Athrun tried initiating a much peaceful conversation. It wasn't a joke dealing with her. He felt it.

"Yup. You could've snapped back…but you were all too chicken to do that." The blonde teenager smirked. She was now wearing her turquoise fitted tee. It made Athrun blush even more. He gulped. Trying to sponge himself to the conversation, he tried paying no attention to her body.

"Didn't you?" the high school senior president smiled evilly. She also has the soup for lunch. She wants to play tough, doesn't she? This was going to be entertaining.

"Well…no." She looked away. Seconds after that, she turned back at him and smiled sheepishly. Both of them hysterically laughed at each other. It went louder and louder. Gripping on both their stomachs, they navigated oxygen to last even until graduation. They were grabbing some attention from nearby tables. Both of them tried stopping, but it was too hard. They didn't know that laughing could also be a cause of death.

"Laughing could kill you," Mirialla, sitting next to Dearka, mentioned.

A little tear fell from Athrun's eye out of their guffaws. He grasped on his spoon a lot tighter to help himself. More minutes after that, the both of them managed to grasp onto their sanities and stop laughing their life away. Looking at each other, they both exchanged calmer looks. They both smiled and looked down at their soup again.

"It's still fifteen minutes until the bell rings. Will you eat your soup?" Athrun said, smiling sweetly. He felt more relaxed after the laugh. Hell knows why.

She blushed at the sight of him. She may have not noticed it before, but his blue, sleek hair and emerald eyes were making her look like a human tomato. She navigated for other things to look back at, but her hazel eyes insisted on staring back at his green ones. At that split-second, she suddenly felt her stomach sinking.

"Uh…you alright?" He exclaimed, waving both his hands at her. Snapping back to reality, she blinked both her eyes dozens of time to realize that he was being worried sick. He was biting his lower lip again. Smiling to herself, she managed to think of a better answer.

"Yes, I am. Why are you biting your lower lip, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know…I…"

"Look, it's your elementary crush!" she suddenly shouted, cutting off his reply.

"Where?" he bit his lip again, even more tighter.

"Where she is," she said between laughs. He was doing that when he was awfully nervous or insecure. Athrun fought back a tongue stuck out his little mouth, then laughed along with her. A little more, and then the whole school population inside the cafeteria would be looking at them both. Mirialla seemed slightly amused with her best friend enjoying Athrun's company, while Dearka was too busy munching on his garlic bread. Kira heard them but didn't seem to care. Yzak was still eating his spaghetti furiously and Nicol was trying to see what was going on but too many people were crowding the both of them.

"What's so funny, anyway?" one of the students gathering to their lot tried squeezing himself for some attention.

She stopped laughing. Scrunching up her face from exuberance, she faced the student. She stood up, grabbed his cap and pulled it down his face, covering his eyes. "One thing's for sure, buddy. It's none of your business."

Returning to the table, an appalled Athrun welcomed her back. Her rowdy but humble attitude really amused him. For the first time of his entire life, he actually wished he could stay inside the cafeteria for a much longer time, perhaps. This was really fun.

"Why didn't you do that to me earlier?" he asked, looking at her as she set herself in the table.

"Well, you didn't look like someone I could easily scare off." The blonde-haired teenager answered, with her forefinger on her chin.

"All I know is, I am scared at people who ranks higher than I do and are older than I really am…so, you're cute." He flashed his pearly whites again.

"What has that gotta do with being scared?" she retorted back, her right brow arching up.

"Ahh…uhmm…" he stuttered, biting his lower lip.

"Spit it out." She commanded, playing the soup with her spoon.

"Nothing. It just came out of my mouth."

"Okay." She wanted an answer, but she was too hungry for that.

"So, what do we do?" he tried changing the subject.

Both of them cast their heads down to their soups. They stared at it, both of their images reflecting down the bowl. It's only minutes before the bell cracks their ears. Another sweat coming down from her little forehead and another bite was to the lip. It was either they survive or die not having anything inside their stomachs for three whole hours. Clutching on once again with their spoons, they contemplated about a decision. Glancing at each other's figures, they both nodded as if they understood it.

Raising their spoons, they both shut their eyes as they scooped a spoonful of the soup. Moments passed. They blinked a couple of times. Staring back at their bowls, they wiped excess food from their cheeks. Seconds, then suddenly, both of them vigorously scooped spoonfuls of the soup, leaving the alphabet behind. No one ever knew ABC soup could be this irresistible. It was pretty delicious, actually. No one paused. They both ate. They acted as if they understood each other without even looking. They never knew that something that started out so bad could turn out to be so good. It was in the middle of a scorching, hot day, and they both had heating ABC soups for lunch.

"This, my friend, is one weird Wednesday." She said, burping at the sight of her empty bowl.

"I wish there would also be weird Thursdays and Fridays, too." He burped even louder. Massaging his stomach, he smiled at her.

"Let's head for classes." She looked at the cafeteria wall clock. It was only five minutes before the bell rings and all the students were flying off the room. Only the two of them were left sitting on their tables. Even Athrun's best friend didn't mind waiting for him. Good thing he didn't. "So, it was fun…uh…" she paused. They talked with each other about half an hour without knowing each other's name. This was mighty weird.

"It's Athrun, Athrun Zala." He said, hanging on with his smile.

"The high school senior president? Geez! You must've thought I was acting stupid! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she exclaimed out of bewilderment. The guy he burped at was one of the highest officials of the school.

"Sheesh, if you were acting stupid, then I was acting stupid, too." Athrun smirked. "…and you are…"

"Why should I tell you? What if you tell the whole faculty about my behavior lately?" She smirked back.

"What if I don't? Let's just go. We're late." He walked towards the door. He didn't even catch her name. What luck.

Fiddling with her soup, she managed to get up and smile. Carrying her bowl of once-filled-with-soup, she caught up with Athrun.

She handed the bowl to Athrun, running faster and leaving him behind. She faced back and winked at him.

Looking at the bowl, letters were arranged to spell out,

"It's Cagalli."


End file.
